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Episode 200: The Godzilla Mega Monster Special
Show Notes : On this week's patreon, we talk about, guess what? Godzilla! Become a Patreon subscriber for $5 a month and get an exclusive episode every week! Films Discussed * Godzilla movies ** Godzilla (1954) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** Godzilla Raids Again (1955) Dir. Motoyoshi Oda ** King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** Invasion of the Astro-Monster (1965) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) Dir. Jun Fukuda ** Son of Godzilla (1967) Dir. Jun Fukuda ** Destroy All Monsters (1968) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** All Monsters Attack (1969) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) Dir. Yoshimitsu Banno ** Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Dir. Jun Fukuda ** Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) Dir. Jun Fukuda ** Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) Dir. Jun Fukuda ** Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) Dir. Ishirō Honda ** The Return of Godzilla (1984) Dir. Koji Hashimoto ** Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) Dir. Kazuki Ōmori ** Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) Dir. Kazuki Ōmori ** Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) Dir. Takao Okawara ** Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) Dir. Takao Okawara ** Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) Dir. Kensho Yamashita ** Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) Dir. Takao Okawara ** Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) Dir. Takao Okawara ** Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) Dir. Masaaki Tezuka ** Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) Dir. Shusuke Kaneko ** Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) Dir. Masaaki Tezuka ** Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) Dir. Masaaki Tezuka ** Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) Dir. Ryuhei Kitamura ** Shin Godzilla (2016) Dir. Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi * Son of Kong (1933) Dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack * Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman (1943) Dir. Roy William Neill * Ultra Q (1966) Dir. Hajime Tsuburaya - TV series * Ultraman (1966-1967) - TV series * What's Up Tiger Lily? (1966) Dir. Woody Allen * Frankenstein Conquerors the World (1965) Dir. Ishirō Honda * King Kong Escapes (1967) Dir. Ishirō Honda * Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Dir. Frank Oz * Gunhed (1989) Dir. Masato Harada * Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) Dir. Shusuke Kaneko * Godzilla (1998) Dir. Roland Emmerich * Versus (2000) Dir. Ryuhei Kitamura * Azumi (2003) Dir. Ryuhei Kitamura * Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) Discussion Notes * 200 episode milestone! * Why do our hosts love the big guy? ** Will: as a kid they're "so bad they're good" *** His epiphany at Godzilla 2000: they're fun! ** Justin: everybody loves destruction and giant lizards * The secret to a good Godzilla movie? ** Get good directors who want to direct these types of movies * Godzilla (American version - Godzilla: King of the Monsters) ** One of three in the series where new footage was added by American distributors * Godzilla Raids Again ** Features a fast Godzilla in some scenes thanks to a camera operator mistake ** Released in America as Gigantis the Fire Monster * King Kong vs. Godzilla ** Originally pitched as Frankenstein vs. KIng Kong by Willis O'Brien *** Idea was 'borrowed' to create this film ** The first playful comedic outing for Godzilla * Mothra vs. Godzilla ** Will: this is "one of the perfect Godzilla movies" ** What are the basic human plots of Godzilla movies? *** You need a journalist, a kid, a scientist, a military person, and sometimes a greedy person trying to make money ** American cut adds in America helping take down Godzilla ** Justin: prefers subs over dubs, though dubs are important to get kids to watch * Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of the Astro-Monster ** Monster team up movies with Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah ** Ghidorah has a peace settlement between the monsters, with Mothra presiding ** Invasion goes to space, and has a dancing Godzilla! * Ebirah, Horror of the Deep ** Introduces director Jun Fukuda to the series *** A modest and competent craftsman who wrote most of the Godzilla films he directed ** Originally meant to be a King Kong script ** Transition from expensive city-scapes to Pacific island sets ** Godzilla smashes planes to surf music! * Son of Godzilla ** Introduces Minilla, the big guy's sons ** Will opines on the beauty of the alpha Godzilla lovingly raising his beta son ** Features two amazing foes - a giant tarantula and a giant praying mantis * Destroy All Monsters ** Toho going out with a bang - ten monsters battle it out! ** Set in the far flung future of 1999 on Monster Island ** Turns out it's pretty boring * All Monsters Attack ** Features a Minilla dub that our hosts love ** Very depressing footage of real-world Japan ** Contains a lot of recycled footage, creating a morphing appearance for Godzilla * Godzilla vs. Hedorah ** First and only Godzilla outing for director Yoshimitsu Banno ** Updates the genre to the 70s - groovy music, psychedelic effects, animated sequences ** Banno's work angered producer Tomoyuki Tanaka so much he wanted it erased from history ** Godzilla flies! * Godzilla vs. Gigan ** Fukuda returns for a microbudget stock footage romp ** Features Gigan, a giant robotic chicken with knife arms and a laser visor ** You can see the Godzilla suit visibly falling apart on-screen * Godzilla vs. Megalon ** Considered for many years to be the worst Godzilla movie ** Entered the public domain in the 90s for a brief window ** Silly and cheap, and includes Ultraman rip-off Jet Jaguar *** Features the undersea kingdom of Seatopia *** Also includes Godzilla sliding across the land on his tail! * Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla ** Fukuda's last Godzilla film ** The franchise is now fully in it's decline, only regarded as child fare *** Ultraman and Ultra Q were providing kaiju action on TV, eating into movie interest and sales * Terror of Mechagodzilla ** Ishirō Honda's last Godzilla film, end of the Shōwa era *** Attempt to marry the 70s tone with Honda's earlier films ** Story covers an alien invasion and a cyborg love story - and has nudity! ** Awesome Godzilla entrance, great monster battles *** Will: "This is pure cinema" * The Return of Godzilla ** Erases all prior films from the chronology barring the original *** Not that the canon was that strict to begin with ** Returning actor Raymond Burr refused to do the comedy bits and ad tie-ins *** Took his acting role very seriously ** The American cut features a Soviet sub firing a nuke at Japan! *** Thanks right-wing New World Pictures owners! ** First Godzilla theatrical outing in 15 years in America * Godzilla vs. Biollante ** Justin explains 'Godzilla Stockholm Syndrome" - not all outings are great, but you get enough fresh stuff in a movie and it just works ** The Heisei era films featured less monster brawling, more energy blasting * Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah ** A wacky and wild time travel space adventure *** Goes full Bill & Ted by the end ** Series chump King Ghidorah gets an upgrade to Mecha-King Ghidorah * Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, ''and ''Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla ** The series begins to blur for our hosts at this point ** The Gamera series is now taking up more of the kaiju space at the box office * Godzilla vs. Destoroyah ** Came out same year as Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, and has the same plot! ** Heavily marketed as the movie where Godzilla dies ** Darkest of the 90's outings * Godzilla 2000: Millennium ** Last Japanese Godzilla film to receive widespread American release ** Holds a special place in Will's heart as he saw it in theaters ** English dub ends with the line "Maybe Godzilla is inside each one of us" * Godzilla vs. Megaguirus ** Last time the series would create a new monster ** Godzilla busts out his wrestling moves again! * Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack ** Considered the best outing of the Millennium era ** Toho reboots the series by bringing in Gamera director Shusuke Kaneko ** Evil Godzilla is powered by the souls of the dead killed by the nuclear bombs! * Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla & Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. ** Rehashes of older stories * Godzilla: Final Wars ** Biggest budget Godzilla movie at $20 million - and the biggest flop ** Turns out it's a lot of fun! *** Godzilla faces off against ten monsters, including the American Godzilla! ** Justin: it's "a love letter to the Godzilla films", "a sugar rush" * Shin Godzilla ** One of the best - and most atypical - of the series ** Justin recommends pairing with the '54 original film and Godzilla vs. Hedorah ** Wil: "feels like the first truly post-9/11 Godzilla movie" ** A genuinely scary appearance for Godzilla Listener Letters * What are the most emotional scenes in the Godzilla series? ** Death of Godzilla in Destoroyah ** Death of Dr. Serizawa in the original ** Godzilla leveling a city area with his fire breath in Shin Godzilla ** Godzilla sparing the last humans on the planet Final Wars * Who's bettrer: Godzooky, Minilla, or Godzilla Jr.? ** It's Minilla! * Do you ever get tired of Godzilla's roar? ** Nope, love it! Post-Outro Discussion * A lovely Godzilla song Category:Episodes Category:Godzilla